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Heh, I had to follow Lord E's example and pick Castle d'Arnise as the spot where the tale unfolds. Hey, I needed a place with an easy access to the roof.
Oh, the protagonist in the game was called 'Baldrick The Stupid' after the famous hero of the Blackadder series. He is slightly changed in this story, but his mental capabilities remain the same.
Viconia sighed. She hated celebrations, especially ones with so many filthy rivvin present. Their return from the Windspear Hills to the Castle d’Arnise had clashed with the festivities that this foolish Nalia girl was holding due to this being the Midsummer night. She had ended up at one of the many tables in the luxuriously decorated hall, sitting between a badly sweating bald ranger who smelled like a pigsty and a whiny Avariel mage who couldn’t keep her mouth shut and whose talkativeness was only enhanced after she had consumed even a tiny drop of alcohol.
She could only hope that the wine would dull her senses enough so that she could ignore the disgusting and intolerable chatter that surrounded her. Slowly, the urge to kill her companions and generally everyone present in the hall, started to creep up into her head… she let her gaze wander around the table… the insufferable brat and her snobbish aunt were intently listening into the heroic tale of their leader’s glorious deeds… words like ‘for the greater good’, ‘valiant and righteous’, ‘our glorious quest’ drifted to her.
Yes, their noble leader knew how to speak chivalrously, the blonde paladin with blue eyes, shoulders like a mighty oak tree and brain at the size of a shriveled pea, made for an inspiring figure, indeed. When it was stupidity that needed to be inspired. Yes, Baldrick was an impressive figure all right… at least according to the whiny avariel who kept her gaze attached to him, sending desperate glances of longing and batting her eyelashes as she thought she was supposed to.
Beside their valiant and courageous leader another equally smug and irritating person sat, Mazzy Fentan, the annoying halfling paladin, always ready to remind Viconia of her being inherently evil and promising that one day, unless she mends her evil ways, her sword, guided by the just Arvoreen would find and pierce her blackened heart. Viconia shrugged and gulped down another sip of the mediocre rivvin wine, pondering about an important question – who would she choose to murder in a brutal fashion as first… it was certainly a toss between the halfling and the avariel. She decided that she would start with the halfling and leave the avariel for the end.
Her gaze drifted to the person that sat between Mazzy and the avariel and immediately her mood improved slightly. At least she was not the only one who hated this whole party, she concluded looking at the half-elven druid Jaheira, who was staring into her glass so intently as if trying to hypnotize something inside it. She chuckled, because she understood the unfortunate druid all too well… at least she sat far enough from Baldrick and did not hear all the details of his ‘paladin speech’, a torture to which the druid was cruelly subjected.
Next to her, the avariel was getting more and more tipsy and now her amorous looks towards the man of her dreams were accompanied by wistful sighs… surely, after yet another glass she would start talking and then nothing save for a fist in a face would make her shut her yap and she knew well enough that Baldrick would not tolerate such cruelty… well, at least not at the dinner table. Yes, indeed… when the avariel started to talk, Viconia wished she would have stayed at the graveyard in Athkatla – even the regular undead such as zombies and skeletons made for a better and more enjoyable conversation as the blonde elf.
“Awww… he’s s-s-so dreamy…” the blonde elf gushed, “don’t you think so, Jaheira?” she turned towards the druid, who much to Viconia’s amusement, actually shuddered at the question.
“Aww… I d-didn’t want to m-make you feel envious, Jaheira… s-s-sorry ‘bout that,” the avariel lisped before supping from her glass again… the girl was getting drunk quickly, Viconia concluded.
“I am not envious, child,” Jaheira answered calmly, much too calmly for Viconia’s liking, “I truly believe you two deserve each other,” and the druid shuddered again after saying her words and once again, Viconia felt an awkward wave of sympathy overcoming her.
“That’s aw-aw-awfully nice of you to sh-sh-shay, Jaheira… I mean… ” The elf stopped to take another sip and then motioned the butler to refill her empty glass, “I am glad that you have come to… r-realize how bad I have suffered and how I deserve to…” then Aerie hiccupped and the sentence was left unspoken.
Jaheira was about to reply, but at that moment she caught Viconia’s gaze… Viconia was grinning viciously, but not in the mocking manner she had come to expect from the wicked drow… no, this was a rather different sort of smile and that wink she was sending her almost seemed conspiratorial. Jaheira lost her trail of thought, thinking what she might have meant, but at this moment Aerie spoke up… again.
“I m-mean… it is not yours or Viconia’s fault… that I am just b-better than you…” Aerie slurred, “It is only f-fair that B-B-Baldrick ch-ch-choose me in the end…”
“Better then us? What are you talking about, girl?” Viconia’s voice hardly changed, despite the burning flames of anger in her eyes.
“W-well… it… it really isn’t your fault… I mean, Ja-Ja-Jaheira is only half of a real elf and you are a drow!” Aerie pouted in a faked expression of shock, “You are not only forced to c-crawl on the ground like insects… you are forced to crawl… under the ground… that is so horrible!” Aerie stopped, only to demand her glass refilled once again.
“I truly pity you, Viconia… I pity the two of you,” Aerie poured out in a streak of benevolence, “I truly understand how you ended up becoming such bitter, mean and hate-filled p-p-persons… I am so sorry for you… I wish there was a way that I could share some of my luck and happiness with the two of you…”
“Please, don’t…” Viconia sighed quietly, hoping that the elf would finally collapse as the spirits slowly filled her hollow avariel bones.
“It ish great to have… to have friends such… such as you…” Aerie was having even more trouble to speak coherently, “f-friends who never take… offense… n-not that it w-was in your… right to do so… because I am allowed to… say anything… I have s-suffered so much, you know…”
“But of course. It goes without saying,” Viconia said calmly, but her eyes were now blazing in anger and had the elf not been so seriously drunk, even she would have the common sense to stop.
“I… I still d-don’t understand why you… got all… upset, Jaheira… when I said the truth about… your h-husband,” Aerie made yet another mistake, Viconia concluded, seeing that the druid already had raised her hand to strike at the elf, only to remember herself at the very last moment, “sh-sh-sure, I didn’t even know him, b-but… well, I only s-said those things b-because I d-deserve B-Baldrick anyways… and I know that h-he liked to h-hear that… he now thinks me so… bwave…”
“Oh… is that so?” Jaheira asked in a flat voice, sending yet another glance towards Viconia and the silent nod she received in return helped to overcome some of the stoked up anger.
“Oh… d-don’t take it s-so hard, Jaheira… only the g-good people deserve and know how to love… but perhaps you can still m-mend your ways…” Aerie now had to prop her head against her hand to keep it upright, she was so drunk that she could barely sit on the chair, “there is hope for you, but… I’m so sorry for Viconia,” the elf sniffed mightily.
“Ah, I am honored,” Viconia said in a voice full of sarcasm, which seemed to be completely lost on the elf beside her.
“Yes, Ma-Ma-Mazzy says that you are irrede… irdema… irredub… evil to the core… so I should not feel b-bad about insulting you… because you don’t have any feelings at all…” Aerie finally collapsed on the table and stared helplessly at Jaheira, who was now grinning maliciously.
“Baldrick! Our dear and most valiant leader!” Viconia addressed the paladin in a voice that could melt an iceberg, “I believe that our dearest friend Aerie has had a touch too much of wine. Would you want us to take her for a little walk? Fresh air would do her a lot of good…”
Baldrick, too busy with retelling of another glorious adventure to his crowd of adorers, only waved a hand and Jaheira and Viconia grabbed the drunken elf, and dragged her outside, exchanging very satisfied grins while doing so. Jaheira was slightly surprised when Viconia chose the stairs leading upwards, but soon she got the idea and that put a very naughty twinkle in her eyes…
The air on the roof was chilling, the wind was stronger than they expected… as the cold breeze hit them, the avariel, being dressed in her thin mage robe, felt like she had been under a cold shower and it served to wipe some of her drunkenness away…
“Why are we on the roof?” she asked, still wobbling slightly on her feet, “oooh… look at all the bright stars… and how they… circle… in the sky…”
“Oh, Aerie? Remember how you told your beloved Baldrick that you do not need wings to fly?” Viconia asked in a dangerously teasing voice.
“Umm… yes… oh, yes I did… I really meant it too… I think…” the elf was still staring at the sky.
“Did you mean it figuratively or literally?” Jaheira asked, grinning like a hungry she-wolf.
“Err… I… uh…” came Aerie’s reply.
“Imagine Aerie… if you could fly again… Baldrick would be so proud of you, wouldn’t he?” Viconia continued.
“Oh, yes… yes, he would… oh, I wish I could fly again…”
“But you said yourself that you can, remember?” Jaheira said, taking Aerie’s hand and leading her to the edge of the roof.
“Do… you… do you think I can?” Aerie desperately tried to put her brain to work, but there was no reply, only dead silence in her head, “don’t I… need my wings to fly?”
“No, Aerie, trust us!” Viconia said in her most gentle voice.
“Indeed, all you need is to muster some confidence, child,” Jaheira added in an equally sweet voice, “that is why you have us here.”
“Al-alright…” Aerie stammered, and with help of the other two she climbed upon the railing, “ooh… I… I d-don’t feel so good… about this…” she gasped.
“Nonsense!” Viconia shouted cheerfully, “all you need is a… push in the right direction…” and at these words the two of them pushed the avariel over the railing…
“Oh, look at her go!” Viconia exclaimed, leaning over the railing dangerously, but Jaheira managed to grab her by the shoulder and pulled her back.
“She is actually flapping her arms and trying to fly,” Jaheira commented dryly, “foolish child,” she added.
“Ouch, that’s got to hurt,” Viconia commented after the sound of the thud below reached their ears.
“That should buy us some time to enjoy ourselves,” Jaheira added, “no doubt our omnipotent leader will demand on the brat being resurrected, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. I don’t have a spell at the ready, conveniently.”
“Me neither… and besides, I could always fail the attempt, even if I had the spell,” Viconia chuckled as the two of them left the roof and closed the doors behind them.
“So… will you allow me to beat you at the game of darts, drow?” Jaheira asked, smiling as she hadn’t smiled for a long time.
“But of course, Jaheira,” Viconia gladly accepted, “as long as the target is Mazzy’s face…”
“Or Baldrick’s…” Jaheira sighed wistfully, “how about we make a toss of coin to see who will be next?”
“On the other hand… why don’t we off them both?” Viconia grinned and they both shared a hearty laugh before stepping back into the hall to bring the sad news to their valiant leader.
